UK To Introduce Forced Labor Due Diligence For Big Business

Hannah Edmonds-Camara was quoted in Law360 regarding the U.K. government’s plans to introduce mandatory human rights due diligence requirements for large businesses to address forced labor risks in their supply chains.

The proposed regime would apply to businesses with global turnover of at least £350 million and would give a regulator powers to investigate companies and remove products from the market where they are found to be the result of forced labor and due diligence obligations have not been met.

Hannah, special counsel at Covington, noted that it is not yet clear how prescriptive the due diligence expectations will be.

She added that the government’s announcement suggests it plans to “create a new regulatory model that incorporates elements of both human rights due diligence and forced labor market ban enforcement,” perhaps with an eye to creating a more coherent regime.